In a water closet installation where the waste is communicated through the rear of the water closet, the water closet is supported at least in part by a closet carrier assembly positioned behind the water closet. In addition to supporting the water closet, the closet carrier assembly connects the water closet to the on-site waste and vent plumbing. Due to factors such as differences in placement of the on-site pluming, desired placement of the water closet, and different configurations of water closets, the distance between the on-site plumbing and the water closet varies from installation to installation. The closet carrier assembly must include provisions to compensate for various distances between the water closet and on-site plumbing.
One common configuration of a closet carrier assembly includes a coupling that connects the water closet to the remainder of the closet carrier assembly. By varying the length of this coupling, a range of distances between the on-site plumbing and water closet can be accommodated. In some instances, the coupling is provided longer than is necessary, and cut to length after the closet carrier assembly is installed and leak tested.
In these prior art systems, the coupling joins and seals with the remainder of the closet carrier assembly by tapered pipe threads. It is undesirable to break the connection between the coupling and closet carrier assembly after the coupling has been assembled to the closet carrier and leak tested, because the seal made by tapered threads depends on achieving a consistent thread interference that can vary each time the threaded connection is taken apart and made-up. Furthermore, the exterior of the coupling is often obstructed and difficult to grasp with a wrench. Therefore, once the system is leak tested and the length of the coupling is determined, the installer cuts the coupling to length with the coupling installed on the remainder of the closet carrier assembly. Many times the installation surroundings, for example adjacent water closet installations, other plumbing installations, and walls, interfere with the ability of the installer to cut the coupling to length, thus making the installation more difficult and time consuming.
For the forgoing reasons, there is a need for an improved closet carrier assembly that addresses the issues of access to the coupling to therefore make installation easier.